Success with 78s: the Secret Sauce
Step 1: Do NOT play your records on a Victrola
If the image above makes you a little queasy, I'm with you. That is not something you would do to a record you really cared about. Unfortunately, that's something that's already been done to a lot of the 78s still in circulation, or "in the wild," as some collectors like to say. Those old
Victrolas were murder on record surfaces. The sound box was ridiculously heavy, and armed with a steel needle that actually had a fatter tip by the time it got to the end of the record. Two factors made this abuse acceptable: (1) lower expectations, and (2) different materials. Records in those days weren't held to high audio standards by the public - everyone was just so amazed at these machines, and, of course, there was nothing to compare it to. So, yes, the record-buying public was considerably less sophisticated than it would come to be. Also, records of the acoustic era were made of tougher stuff than post-War 78s, which could not tolerate more than a dozen or so plays on an old Victrola before it was worn out completely.
Victrolas were murder on record surfaces. The sound box was ridiculously heavy, and armed with a steel needle that actually had a fatter tip by the time it got to the end of the record. Two factors made this abuse acceptable: (1) lower expectations, and (2) different materials. Records in those days weren't held to high audio standards by the public - everyone was just so amazed at these machines, and, of course, there was nothing to compare it to. So, yes, the record-buying public was considerably less sophisticated than it would come to be. Also, records of the acoustic era were made of tougher stuff than post-War 78s, which could not tolerate more than a dozen or so plays on an old Victrola before it was worn out completely.
And there it is - our #1 enemy when it comes to 78 audio: wear. When I was a kid, most of my records were 78s, played on all kinds of old phonographs. They all sounded terrible, with lots of scratches and surface noise. I will never forget how utterly stunned I was the first time I heard a new 78 record. It sounded fantastic! Amazing! I never dreamed records could sound so good! And through the years, it has become undeniably apparent to me that the worst thing a person could do to their records was to enjoy them for years and years. For every time a record is enjoyed, it is also degraded. It's a trade-off that cannot be avoided.
Now, I think of collecting records as one might think of any historical preservation pursuit. But I find a certain romance, an allure, if you will, in the idea that these records, many of which are quite a lot older than I am, are not only a historical document of American musical entertainment, but also a document of the lives of the people who played and enjoyed them before me. In a small way, there's a kinship to be appreciated there, a connection to a continuum that predates me, and will (hopefully) continue long after I am gone from here.
For now, I choose to be more than a mere curator of these historic documents; I choose to celebrate the achievements they represent, both technical and artistic, and to share them as widely as possible with like-minded fellow travelers. That is why I do the In the Mood show every week - to put these recordings in front of an appreciative audience and acknowledge the artistic and technical heights they represent.
OK, everything you've just read amounts to a kind of a policy statement, I suppose - a declaration of what I get out of this and the notions that drive it for me. In recent blog posts here, we've discussed my philosophy when it comes to preserving and enhancing 78 audio for public enjoyment. And now would be the time to delve into the technical details of what I do to make 78s sound as good as new. But I'm going to save those gory details for our next geek post. For now, let's simply take a little time to enjoy the superb music we have for you on this week's show.
Hour 1 begins with a Swingin' Spotlight feature on one of my very favorite groups: the Benny Goodman Sextet. As a swing guitarist, it's easy for me to listen to these super-tight little recordings and identify with the values that brought them about. The melodies are intricate, although simple in form and progression, and the Sextet carries them off with a relentlessly swinging approach. The ensemble passages are immaculate, and the solo work is highly developed and free, but sticks close to the rails. Benny was forever changing the personnel, which gave the Sextet a sound that was never stale, always refreshed by the inspiration of new blood.
I spent years gathering as many Goodman Sextet recordings as I could, and went through several copies of the 1950 and 1951 re-issues on the Columbia Six-Eye label, trading up to better copies every chance I got. Then, we transferred these LPs to the hard drive with minimal enhancement necessary. I especially love these specific re-issues of this material, as I think Columbia got everything right - the right EQ, the right compression ratios, etc. These cuts stand up, sit down, fight, fight, fight! And I think you'll appreciate that aspect as you listen.
We begin with the seldom-heard Sunny Side of the Street with ingenue Peggy Lee on the vocal, a side originally released by Columbia on its OKeh label in 1941. We hear from a 1940 Sextet that includes Count Basie on piano, Cootie Williams on trumpet and Charlie Christian on guitar; the loosely-swinging I'm Confessin that I Love You; a Capitol side from the late 1940s, Nagasaki; and an all-time favorite from the Sextet's first session in October of 1939. Besides the magic of spontaneous musical creation heard here, I think you will also find the audio characteristics of these recordings exciting and very satisfying.
We kick off Hour 2 with about 20 minutes of straight-ahead dance music from clarinet and sax playing Les Brown and his Band of Renown. Baritone sax man Butch Stone will sing us a novelty number, we'll hear some of Les's dance arrangements of classical tunes, Joe will jolt one for us, and we'll get a couple of numbers with Doris Day at the mic.
Of course, we include as many of the great bands of the 1930s, 40s and 50s as possible in every show, and this week, we get to hear some real gems of the Big Band Era from the likes of Eddy Howard, Stan Kenton, Artie Shaw, Louis Armstrong, Glenn Miller, Ralph Flanagan, Casa Loma, Jimmie Lunceford, Tommy Dorsey, and many more. We will even go back to 1931 for an original 78 classic from the Duke Ellington band.
I think you will enjoy this show. I certainly did!
Support your local Band Student! Call a young player and invite them to listen to this week's show with you. It will make their day!
As always, we would love to hear from you with a comment or a request for the show, either here on the blog page or on our Facebook Page.
Be kind to one another this week, and above all,
Keep Swinging!
Scott
Wonderful, Scott. Beautifully stated. Roger Ford
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree with you in the main about 78s and acoustic reproduction, there are a few caveats. First and foremost, the correct needle and perfect condition reproducer/tone arm mount are critically important. Needles were designed for one use only and then discarded. If you look under a microscope you'll see steel needles wear to a chisel point after one side. Unfortunately because wear isn't visible to the naked eye phonograph owners would often use needles for several plays, to the record's detriment. It's also important to select the right needle; there any many new needles sold which are poorly made and will damage records. I exclusively use needles made in England (ebay seller Soundgen) which replicate the original Victor taper (NOT a chisel point) and nickel flashing. There is a notable sonic difference. Second, the reproducer needs to be in proper adjustment, starting with the rubber isolators, balance spring from needle chuck to mica connection, and of course mica diaphragm in optimal condition. Short these there will not only be inadequate compliance (leading to unnecessary wear) but likely unacceptable sound quality. Third, often the machines' tone arms bind up and won't swing as freely as they should, due to a combination of pot metal deterioration (on many non-Victor machines) and hardened grease where the tone arm mounts to the reproducing horn. Acoustic machines made after 1925 used an aluminum diaphragm and some other differences in construction for reproducing the new electrical recordings. These reproducers also age and need refurbishing, even if they sound OK. Some of the later electrical (horseshoe magnet) pickups have counterbalanced arms to reduce record wear (the Western Electric system especially) though most do not and will cause record damage, especially with 1930s and 1940s recording. That's because as recording technology improved, with ever-greater frequency response, the pickups were not compliant enough to track the records properly and given the battle between needle and record surface, the surface lost. By the 1940s, in America the crystal pickup era, it was a complete surrender to wear. I won't play an exceptionally rare record on a gramophone, but I have no problem playing others so long as the machine's refurbished properly and proper needles in use. Several years ago someone posted a demonstration on YouTube of a shellac record playing about 100 times on a rebuilt phonograph, with the proper needles changed after each play. You couldn't tell the difference (at least from that machine) between the first and 100th play, amazingly enough. That might not be the case for all records I also play the records on the machines available at the time of their release--a mica diaphragm type machine for acoustic recordings, and a Victor aluminum diaphragm model for the early electricals. Records sound distinctly different on an acoustic machine, sometimes (to my ears) preferable. For instance, many Caruso records (or for that matter other singers) have an amazing room presence on an acoustic machine, something lacking in even the best transfers to vinyl or digital. One final point: among collectors I've known "in the wild" refers to finding records anywhere other than at record shows or from another collector's collection--this would include junk shops, antiques stores, auctions, etc.
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